Pages

Thursday, 31 October 2013

The United States is running
clandestine communications intelligence facilities at its embassies in
Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Yangon.

The country is doing so by tapping
telephones and monitoring communications networks from electronic
surveillance facilities in US embassies and consulates across east and
south-east Asia, according to information disclosed by intelligence
whistleblower Edward Snowden.A top secret map dated August 13, 2010
lists nearly a hundred surveillance facilities worldwide, the map
however, shows no such facilities are located in Australia, New Zealand,
Britain, Japan and Singapore – the US’s closest allies.

Snoopy the Snooper

According to the map published by Germany’s Der Spiegel
magazine today, a joint Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – National
Security Agency (NSA) group known as ” Special Collection Service”
conducts the sweeping surveillance operation, as well as clandestine
operations against specific intelligence targets.The map, which was
initially published in full on Der Spiegel‘s website but
subsequently replaced with a censored version, lists Special Collection
Service facilities at 90 locations worldwide, including 74 manned
facilities, 14 remotely operated facilities and two technical support
centres.

The map confirms the global reach of US
signals intelligence operations with special collection facilities
located in most major capitals on every continent.Read the full story here

“The rise to sixth place is testament to his stewardship and a
result of the economic and government transformation programmes,”
Mustapa said in a statement.

He added that the ranking helped to reinforce Malaysia’s position as
a preferred destination for trade and investments among local and
foreign investors.

Singapore was ranked first in the World Bank’s list followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, the United States and Denmark.

Contributed by Patrick Lee The Star/Asia News Network

A Malaysian global ambition realised

PEMUDAH or The Special Task Force to Facilitate Business Malaysia’s
ambition to be ranked among the top 10 in the world was realised when
Malaysia was ranked 6th in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Report 2014 (DB 2014), up from 12 in 2013 and 25 in 2007 when Pemudah was established.

Pemudah is a partnership between public and private sectors
established in 2007 to improve the ease of doing business in Malaysia
and to enhance the nation’s competitiveness.

This achievement is very significant as Malaysia competed with 189
economies to be counted among the best in a race where competition was
intense and benchmarks were high.

I would like to share the 6-year journey from 25th to 6th rank in
the DB rankings. Pemudah was set up by the then prime minister, Datuk
Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi mainly to address weaknesses in public service delivery and continuous civil service “bashing” in the media.

He wanted to adopt a fresh approach and saw the value of a joint
private-public sector committee in improving public service delivery.

A small group of 23 leaders from both the private and public sectors
was appointed to the task force which was co-chaired by the then Chief
Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan
and me. The vision adopted at the first meeting was to have “a globally
benchmarked, customer-centric, innovative and proactive service in
support of a vibrant, resilient and competitive economy and society”.

This vision was underpinned by the following values: A sense of
urgency, proactive public-private sector collaboration, facilitation,
not hampering; no more regulation than necessary; zero tolerance for
corruption. We announced our aim was to be among the top 10 most
competitive economies globally.

How did Pemudah deliver on the promise? A shared vision, a common
multi-agency platform, commitment and clear rules of engagement
contributed to delivering the outcomes. Meetings were scheduled at the
beginning of the year, fixed on the last Friday of each month, except
when parliament was in session when meetings were convened on Tuesdays.

Setting meeting dates early ensured high attendance at meetings where no alternate members were permitted.

The commitment of members was not only confined to the monthly
meetings of the task force as Pemudah worked through two main working
groups (WG) and more than 10 focus groups (FG) which focused on specific
areas.

Each group was chaired either by the public or private sector and
reported progress on a monthly basis to the main task force. No
allowances of any kind were paid and members contributed voluntarily for
the common good.

The WG on Efficiency Issues focused on operational efficiency
including licensing, e-payments and immigration-related matters. The WG
on Policy Issues deliberated on national competitiveness issues like
FIC, liberalisation, education, FTAs, etc.

The FGs covered specific issues like paying taxes, registering
property, enforcing contracts, business processes, DBKL to name a few.
While membership in Pemudah was confined to appointed members,
membership in the WGs and FGs was wider.

To enhance awareness by the business community and citizens, the
secretaries-general/heads of ministries/agencies wrote articles in the
press and publicised their email addresses to enable direct
communications to be direct and instantaneous and the media used to
publicise improvements made.

Pemudah was supported by a strong secretariat in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (Miti) that issued minutes of meetings within 48 hours to facilitate quick follow-ups to decisions made.

The key improvements to public service delivery were varied with
significant gains registered in many areas. A case in point is the
issuance of construction permits, ranked 137th in 2007.

Datuk Arpah Abdul Razak, then director-general of Local Government Department
and currently the secretary-general of the Housing and Local Government
Ministry, set up one stop centres which allowed concurrent submission
of all applications.

The centres then obtained approvals from all technical agencies within a stipulated time-frame. Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib further streamlined the procedures/timelines.

Timelines for approvals were reduced from 420 days to 100 days while
procedures declined from 39 to 10. Malaysia’s rankings in construction
permits leapfrogged to 43rd in DB 2014.

Another area of significant improvement registered was Trading Across Borders. Miti secretary-general Datuk Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria chaired a multi-agency FG comprising Customs, Transport Ministry, Finance Ministry
and permit issuing agencies to reduce time taken to import and export
though pre-clearance of cargo and reducing documentation for such
transactions.

The work of this FG improved Malaysia’s rankings from 46th to 5th in the six years.

In streamlining processes to start and close a business, credit is due to former Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) chief executive Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil
and his team. Today, you can start a business in one hour compared to
three days in 2007. In addition, the introduction of the Malaysian
Corporate Identity by the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and
Management Unit has also contributed to Malaysia’s ranking improving
from 71st to 16th in 2014.

The ranking will strengthen further with the impending introduction of a new Companies Act by CCM chief executive Mohd Naim Daruwish that will further reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Malaysia’s ranking in Paying Taxes was 49th in 2007, 15th last year
and 36th in DB 2014. Several initiatives were implemented by former Inland Revenue Board (IRB) CEO Tan Sri Hasmah Abdullah
and current CEO Datuk Dr Mohd Shukor Mahfar to facilitate electronic
services, prompt refunds of overpaid taxes and enhance transparency of
the tax process.

Hasmah reported that she received more than 500 messages on the day
her email was made public and a special mechanism was set up to allow
her to reply to each of them. Such was the commitment of this former
civil servant.

Businesses used to complain about the backlog of court cases and
often commercial contracts included provisions for determining courts to
be in Singapore.

Former Chief Justice (CJ) Tun Zaki Tun Azmi and current CJ Tun
Ariffin Zakaria were instrumental in motivating their team to clear the
backlog. They also took up Pemudah’s proposal for new commercial courts
to be established with a client charter of resolving all new commercial
cases within a nine-month period – a timeline that is world class by any
standards.

The transformation and improved rankings from 81st in 2007 to 30th in DB 2014 was the subject of a special report by the World Bank on Malaysia as a best practice. Rankings will improve further as the focus moves to the enforcement of judgements.

We have experienced the speed of issuance and renewal of passports,
due largely to the work of past and present Immigration
directors-general, including Tan Sri Mahmood Adam, who subsequently
assumed the position of Home Affairs Ministry
secretary-general. He also adopted and adapted Pemudah’s point system
for evaluating eligibility for permanent residence and made it easier
for foreign spouses and expatriates to work here.

When the proposal to disband the FIC was presented to Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, he was decisive. The decision has
contributed significantly to improving the investment climate for
Malaysia.

The 6-year journey of Pemudah is evidence that with the right focus
and right commitment by the right parties, our rankings in world
benchmarked public services can be even higher. It also indicates the
power of public-private sector collaboration as a common and effective
platform in moving the Malaysian development agenda forward.

I wish to congratulate all members of the civil service, past and
present and to thank my private sector friends who have contributed to
the incredible journey of Pemudah.

A special word of thanks to the former chair, Mohd Sidek, for his
strong leadership and for throwing the challenge to be top 10 at us – we
have done it in partnership with everyone.

I am confident that Chief Secretary to Government Tan Sri Dr Ali
Hamsa and the new private sector co-chair, Datuk Saw Choo Boon will be
successful in maintaining or improving Malaysia’s ranking with the
continued support of the private and public sectors.

Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Wide coverage has been given to the Chinese nuclear submarine force in
Chinese State media recently, considered to be a showcase of China's
strategic master card. China's debut in this field is believed to have
deep implication.

Being confident is of prime importance to
achieve military transparency. US submarines are open to visitors, so
are parts of the Pentagon. Washington prefers to display power, which
will convince the public of the national security while deterring
opponents. It obviously believes that core military power being exposed
to the public could generate more positive effects, distracting
attention from worrying about the "leakage of secrets."

Chinese
understanding of "state secrets" is changing as its military power
keeps increasing. On one hand, China is facing a heavier burden of
keeping secrets due to soaring external interests on intelligence
information about it. On the other hand, it has more room to win
strategic gains through actively releasing some information. Is China
safe? Are there any external forces daring to risk a strategic showdown
with China or radically provoke China over its core interests? Such
questions linger on in the minds of the public.

Besides being an
economic giant, China is powerful in possessing a ­credible
second-strike nuclear ­capability. However, some countries haven't taken
this into serious consideration when constituting their China policy,
leading to a frivolous attitude ­toward China in public opinion.

Therefore,
partly revealing the Chinese nuclear submarine force is in the
interests of China. It could strengthen cohesion of Chinese society and
enhance a comprehensive understanding of China. There is necessity that
China should summarize its efforts in realizing military transparency
and keep on moving forward.

For a modern power, there is rare
opportunity to input core military power, which is mainly assuming a
deterrent role, into practical war. To build the military we need to
ensure its actual combat capacity, as well as convert it into strategic
deterrence. Being in a sensitive position in the process of a peaceful
rise, China will see a growing demand for strategic deterrence.

The
current nuclear capability of China and the world's understanding of it
cannot guarantee China's strategic deterrence not to be challenged. The
limited number of its nuclear submarines is not enough to quell the
idea of damaging China's interest in an extreme way. Jimmy Kimmel's
shocking show demonstrates that many people in the West think they can
choose to be friendly with China, but they don't have to be.

China
needs to make it clear that the only choice is not to challenge China's
core interest. To cultivate such thinking, there remains tedious work
to do. Developing marine-based nuclear power is part of such work.
Perhaps it will give excuse to "China Threat" speculation but the
benefit will far eclipse the trouble created by external opinions.

Domestically
it is of great significance to open some of the strategic military
facilities where the public can have direct access to learn about
China's aircraft carrier, missile base or witness a major military
exercise. It is a way to help foster people's support for national
defense, which is more and more important in modern society.

The world has been given a rare glimpse into China's nuclear-powered
submarine fleet, with State-owned media carrying extensive coverage of
the previously mysterious strategic deterrence force.

The
unprecedented revealing of the underwater fleet is a demonstration of
China's confidence in its sea-based nuclear strike capability and serves
as a deterrent to any attempted provocation amid the changing
geopolitical situation, said military observers.

Starting on
Sunday, China Central Television carried serial coverage two days in a
row on the submarine force of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's
Beihai fleet in its flagship news program Xinwen Lianbo.

The
People's Daily, the PLA Daily and the China Youth Daily on Monday all
carried front-page stories, features and commentaries on the submarine
force, applauding its achievements since the launch of China's first
nuclear-powered submarine in December 1970.

According to the
reports, the idea of building a nuclear submarine was initiated by
Chairman Mao Zedong in the late 1950s to break the global military
powers' "nuclear blackmailing and monopoly."

In September 1988,
China launched a carrier rocket from a nuclear submarine, becoming the
fifth country in the world to have the capability of sea-based nuclear
strike.

While striving to improve its strike capability, the
submarine force has also maintained a good safety record, with no single
nuclear accident reported during the past four decades, said the
reports.

The People's Daily on Monday hailed the submarine force
as "a shield preserving world peace and stability" and "a cornerstone to
safeguard state sovereignty, security and development interests."

Du
Wenlong, a military expert, told the Global Times on Monday that the
latest publicity shows the maturity in the submarine force's sea-based
nuclear strike capability, and implies progress in the development of
China's new generation of submarines.

According to military
observers, the submarines shown in the CCTV report and newspaper photos
are the old models, which were put into service in the 1980s. It is
reported that the navy is replacing them with Jin-class submarines, and a
newer model, the Tang-class, is reportedly in development.

Du
said in comparison to foreign submarines, China occupies a seat within
the leading group but lags behind the US and Russia in terms of the
submarine's noise output and the number of missiles it can carry.

Li
Jie, another military expert, shared similar views, noting Chinese
submarines still fall behind US and Russian ones, but have better
prospects than French and British ones.

The growing capability of
the Chinese submarine force is in line with the global emphasis on
sea-based nuclear strike capability.

Sea-based nuclear deterrence
is more covert, so it gives the countries the capability to launch a
counterstrike after their main nuclear bases are destroyed, Li
explained, noting its development requires strong comprehensive
scientific and technological capabilities.

In addition to the
demonstration of more transparency in the military, Li said the
revealing of the force is also a deterrent to foreign provocation.

According
to reports, during the submarine force's drills, it has repeatedly been
tailed and interrupted by foreign ships and aircraft, including one
time in international waters in the West Pacific.

"The changing
international situation has caused containment to China's growth. The
US-Japan alliance and US pivot to the Asia-Pacific both apparently
target China. The publicity of the submarine force is a warning to any
country that attempts to provoke China, telling them whoever makes the
first strike should think about the consequences," Li said.

CCTV
commentary said the submarine force has equipped China with a more
covert and reliable nuclear counterstrike capability in addition to its
intercontinental ballistic missile and strategic bomber, which would
make China's rivals abandon their war attempts for fears of the
unbearable price they might have to pay.

Monday, 28 October 2013

Scary source: Chan’s popular game is based on the 1980s zombie movies.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian zombie fans, forget Walking Dead or the Living Dead. There is a new zombie tale in town – the Chinese Zombie War.

According to its creator, Chan Kam Wai, 29, the zombies in this mobile app game are already part of Asian culture.

“They are based on the 1980s zombie movies we used to get from Hong
Kong. Do you remember? Unlike the Western zombies, the Chinese zombies
hopped around.

“The culture is familiar to many Asians, so when we came across it
in our research for possible game ideas, we decided this was the one,”
he said.

The familiarity of the horror genre resonated with many, especially
from China and Taiwan, making it one of the most successful mobile apps
from Malaysia.

The Chinese Zombie War was launched in May and has since become one of the Top 20 most downloaded apps in China.

“We have had more than 250,000 downloads, some 90% of the downloads are from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong,” said Chan.

Now with a second edition, Chinese Zombie War 2, the app game has
generated more than RM60,000 in revenue since its launch on the Apple
AppStore. It was also one of the top three most downloaded apps in China
for three weeks.

The Chinese Zombie War tells of a rookie Taoist priest, Sung, who
meets some Chinese zombies in the jungle. At a loss on how to fight
them, he is rescued by a beautiful female ghost who trains him to defeat
the living dead.

Said Chan: “Asian culture is rich and diverse, so we decided to tap
into it and market it globally. Many Westerners accept Eastern culture
like the Samurai, Ninja and Kung Fu culture, so it shows that they are
interested in Eastern culture but may not be exposed to what else is
available. We also wanted something that we could relate to.”

The Chinese Zombie War was developed under the MSC Malaysia
Integrated Content Development Programme (Icon), one of the government
initiatives run by the Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) to drive
forward the app developing industry in Malaysia.

Since Icon’s launch in 2008, 307 apps have been developed under the
programme while some 1,115 people received basic programming training
and over 300 were trained on mobile app developing on the iOS and
Android platforms.

Unfortunately, the Chinese Zombie War is more the exception than the
rule when it comes to local apps breaking into the global or even
regional market.

Despite government initiatives to nurture the local app development
industry, to date there are only around 680 active Malaysian app
developers and some 600 Malaysian apps in the market.

This is only a fraction of the global market; earlier last week,
Apple announced that its iOS App Store now has more than 1.5 million
apps, which have been downloaded 60 billion times, while some US$60bil
(RM192bil) have been paid out to app developers on its platform. There
are an estimated 700,000 apps on the Android platform.

The app market boom is expected to grow, and as research firm
Gartner estimated recently, the total number of app downloads worldwide
will reach 268 billion by 2017.

MDeC Digital Enablement Division director Wan Murdani Mohamad said
that about 80% of apps downloaded in Malaysia now are foreign content.

“Malaysians are overdependent on foreign content, so we need to get
more local content out. Our local stories, history and culture make the
ideal resource for generating content,” he said.

Once a mobile app is in the market, it is already in the global
reach, so Malaysian app developers need not worry about making their
content “international”, said Wan Murdani.

“You need to have an original idea to be successful as there are
many apps out there. Try to globalise local content. Even Angry Birds
started as a local app before it hit big.”

“Having said that, I have no strong evidence that speculation was
one of the main reasons that pushed up property prices. There were some
hot spots but it was definitely not on a nationwide basis,” he told The Star.

Property prices in the sub-sale market, added Yam, could increase if
homeowners decided to defer selling to avoid the new tax rates.

The sub-sale market, he said, comprised 70% of residential
transactions and a decrease in market supply would be inevitable if
homeowners delayed selling.

“This means buyers will move to the new properties market and
further increase the demand-supply imbalance there. So, a possible side
effect is that it could even move prices higher,” he said.

The flat rate of 30% RPGT for six years on foreign-owned properties,
said Yam, would also hurt developers during their promotions abroad.

CH Williams Talhar & Wong Sdn Bhd managing director Foo Gee Jen
said the doubling of RPGT to 30% would lessen or stop speculation but
that in the long-term, this would only make the market more manageable
instead of stopping prices from going up.

However, he said limiting foreigners to buying properties worth
RM1mil and above should only be applied to major cities like Kuala
Lumpur, Johor and Penang.

Khong & Jaafar Sdn Bhd managing director Elvin Fernandez said
increasing the RPGT at this stage would also arrest undue price hikes,
which was usual before the implementation of Goods and Services Tax
scheduled for April 2015.

Deloitte Malaysia RPGT leader Tham Lih Jiun said property price
escalation was due to other factors besides speculation, including rises
in construction cost and building materials as well as land scarcity.

However, Johor Rehda branch chairman Koh Moo Hing said the increase
in the ceiling price for foreigners was expected to have a “negative
impact” on the state’s property market, calling it “not good news” for
Iskandar Malaysia.

Value of sub-sales residential properties likely to soar

THE market value of sub-sales residential properties is expected to increase in Penang this year.

ERA Malaysia president Dr Lee Ville said this was because there was
still a gap between sub-sales pricing and pricing of properties in the
primary market.

“For example, the price for a sub-sales condominium in Gurney Drive
area is 20% to 30% lower than that of new properties in the
neighbourhood.

“Therefore, there is still room for sub-sales pricing to increase,” he said.

Dr Lee added that the sales of most ERA associate members were registered in the sub-sales segment.

He said there was a need in Penang for more properties with 1,300sq
ft to 1,400sq ft in built-up area, priced at around RM400 per sq ft.

Saturday, 26 October 2013

Malaysia's government moved
to allay concerns over its fast-rising debt on Friday,
announcing a new consumption tax at a surprisingly high rate,
abolishing subsidies on sugar and hiking property taxes to
dampen a surge in home prices.

Prime Minister Najib Razak, in his annual budget speech to
parliament, announced his government would bring in a goods and
services tax (GST) in 2015 at a rate of 6 percent, above market
expectations of 4 or 5 percent.

The ringgit currency gained against the dollar in
late trade as investors welcomed the tax, which is aimed at
broadening the revenue base in a country where only about 10
percent of citizens pay income tax and most of the government's
money comes from oil and gas.

Otherwise, Najib announced few major steps to cut subsidies
that take up about a fifth of government spending, or deeper
reforms such as reducing a bloated, but politically influential,
civil service.

Once a high-flying "tiger" economy, Malaysia has become
heavily dependent on commodity exports and struggled with low
private investment since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis,
despite a partial revival in recent years.

"The government has decided to implement a fair and
comprehensive tax system that benefits all Malaysians," Najib
said. "The government believes that this is the best time to
implement GST as the inflation rate is low and contained."Najib was under pressure to take bold steps after Fitch
ratings agency in July cut its outlook on Malaysia's sovereign
debt to negative, citing poor prospects for reform following a
divisive May election.

Malaysian markets suffered a bout of turmoil over the summer
as the country's shrinking current account surplus left it
vulnerable to fund outflows driven by an expected tightening of
U.S. monetary policy.

Most economists said Najib's budget had gone some way to
restoring confidence in the government's political will to
improve its finances, which has been shaken by a rapid rise in
debt in recent years.

"The fact that they took the bold step to introduce 6
percent at the start shows a lot of commitment in reining in the
fiscal deficit," said Irvin Seah, DBS economist in Singapore.

"You won't see the full benefit of the GST on the fiscal
position at the outset... But in the longer term it will help
bolster the fiscal position."

Najib announced a raft of steps to offset the impact of the
GST, including exemptions on basic food items and transport and
one-off payments to poorer families. He also announced a cut in
corporate tax of 1 percent to take effect in 2016.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's called the budget "a step
in the right direction" though it added that the budget
proposals did not fully address the weaknesses of high subsidies
and poor revenue structure.

"We would have preferred more clarity on say fuel subsidies
such as details and timelines," said Selena Ling, head of
treasury research at Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp in Singapore.

After securing his power base last weekend in ruling party
elections, Najib had appeared to have a freer hand to tackle a
high fiscal deficit with unpopular steps.

But having trimmed fuel subsidies by 3.3 billion ringgit ($1
billion) per year shortly the Fitch announcement, Najib only
pledged to gradually restructure the subsidy policy.

COOLING PROPERTY BOOM

The government's economic report, released just ahead of the
budget speech, said that spending on subsidies, including fuel,
would total 39.4 billion ringgit next year, down from 46.7
billion ringgit in 2013.

The abolition of the 0.34 ringgit per kg subsidy on sugar
was justified as needed to combat rising rate of diabetes.

In the report, the government maintained its commitment to
steadily cut the budget gap, from 4.5 percent in 2012 to 4.0
percent in 2013 and 3.5 percent in 2014.

"We believe that the government has paid heed to increasing
criticism by markets and rating agencies, and has followed
through after the aggressive fuel subsidy reduction in
September," Barclays Capital economists wrote in a note.

The economic report forecast a slight pick-up in GDP growth
to 5.0-5.5 percent in 2014 from 4.5-5.0 percent in 2013,
underpinned by strong domestic demand. The government expects to
narrowly stay within its self-imposed debt limit of 55 percent
of GDP next year, forecasting a ratio of 54.7 percent.

To cool a surging property market, Najib announced that the
country's property gains tax would be doubled to 30 percent for
real estate sold within three years. The minimum value of a
property for foreign buyers was doubled to 1 million ringgit.

Malaysian property prices have risen by about a third in the
past three years, with even bigger rises in hot spots such as
parts of southern Johor state.

The government forecast private investment would rise to
17.9 percent of GDP in 2014, with funds going into oil and gas,
textiles, transport equipment and real estate development.

Private investment remains well below levels seen in the
1990s, when it averaged 22.9 percent of GDP annually, but it is
recovering from an average of 11.8 percent between 2001-2011.

Following are highlights from Najib's ongoing speech to
parliament:

CIVIL SERVICE

* Pensioners will receive a special financial assistance of 250
ringgit to assist them meet the rising cost of living.
* Government to give a half-month bonus for 2013 with a minimum
payment of RM500 to be paid in early January 2014.

CASH HANDOUTS
* Cash handouts to households with a monthly income of below
3,000 ringgit will be increased to 650 ringgit from 500 ringgit.
* For individuals aged 21 and above and with a monthly income
not exceeding 2,000 ringgit, cash handouts will be increased to
300 ringgit from 250 ringgit.
* For the first time, cash assistance of 450 ringgit will be
extended to households with a monthly income of between
3,000-4,000 ringgit. rising cost of living borne by the lower
middle-income group.
* To implement all cash schemes, government will allocate 4.6
billion ringgit which is expected to benefit 7.9 million
recipients.

REAL PROPERTY GAINS TAX
* For gains on properties disposed within the holding period of
up to 3 years, RPGT rate is increased to 30 percent.
* For disposals within the holding period up to 4 and 5 years,
the rates are increased to 20 percent and 15 percent,
respectively. Malaysian property firms with exposure to this tax
change include UEM Sunrise, Mah Sing Group
and Tropicana Corp .
* Raise the minimum price of property that can be purchased by
foreigners to 1 million ringgit from 500,000 ringgit.
* Prohibit developers from implementing projects that have
features of Developer Interest Bearing Scheme (DIBS), to prevent
developers from incorporating interest rates on loans in house
prices during the construction period.
* Financial institutions are prohibited from providing final
funding for projects involved in the DIBS scheme. Malaysia's top
three banks are Maybank, CIMB and Public
Bank.

AFFORDABLE HOMES
* To further increase access to home ownership at affordable
prices, an estimated 223,000 units of new houses will be built
by the government and the private sector in 2014.
* Companies that specialise in affordable housing
development include Hua Yang Bhd.
* Government to allocate 578 million ringgit to the National
Housing Department (JPN) for low cost flats consisting of 16,473
housing units.
* Malaysian's government to provide 80,000 housing units with an
allocation of 1 billion ringgit under affordable housing scheme.
The sales price of the houses will be 20 percent lower than
market prices.
* Introduce the Private Affordable Ownership Housing Scheme
(MyHome) to encourage the private sector to build more low and
medium-cost houses. The scheme provides a subsidy of 30,000
ringgit to the private developers for each unit built.
* Preference will be given to developers who build low and
medium-cost houses in areas with high demand and limited to
10,000 units in 2014.
* The scheme is for housing projects approved effective from 1
January 2014 with an allocation of 300 million ringgit.

TAX RELIEF
* Government proposes a special tax relief of 2,000 ringgit be
given to tax payers with a monthly income up to 8,000 ringgit
received in 2013.

GOODS AND SALES TAX
* To implement goods and services tax (GST) on April 1, 2015 -
17 months from now.
* GST rate fixed at six percent, the lowest among ASEAN
countries.
* GST replaces current sales tax.
* Basic food items, transportation services, highway tolls,
water and first 200 units of electricity for domestic users per
month to be exempt from GST.
* Sale, purchase and rental of residential properties as well as
selected financial services are exempted from GST.
* PM Najib: "The reality is that inflation now is low at around
2 percent. The government is confident this will be the best
time to impose GST as inflation is minimal and under control."
* Training grant of 100 million ringgit will be provided to
businesses that send their employees for GST training in 2013
and 2014.
* Financial assistance amounting to 150 million ringgit will be
provided to small and medium enterprises for the purchase of
accounting software in 2014 and 2015.

CORPORATE TAX
* corporate income tax rate be reduced by 1 percentage from 25
percent to 24 percent.
* income tax rate for small and medium companies will be reduced
by 1 percentage point from 20 percent to 19 percent from the
year of assessment 2016.

INCOME TAX
* government to give one-off cash assistance of 300 ringgit to
low income households
* personal income tax rates be reduced by 1 to 3 percentage
points for all tax payers.
* individual income tax structure will be reviewed
* chargeable income subject to the maximum rate will be
increased from exceeding 100,000 ringgit to exceeding 400,000
ringgit.
* Current maximum tax rate at 26 percent to be reduced to 24
percent
* measures to be effective in 2015

SUBSIDIES
* Subsidy programme to be "gradually restructured"
* A portion of savings from restructuring to be distributed in
the form of direct cash assistance with the other half to
finance development projects.
* To abolish the sugar subsidy of 34 sen effective October 26
2013.

IMPROVING BUDGET MANAGEMENT
* committed to reducing the fiscal deficit gradually, with the
aim of achieving a balanced budget by 2020.
* to ensure federal debt level will remain low and not exceed 55
percent of GDP.
* government to conduct audits on projects valued at more than
100 million ringgit during its implementation.

ISLAMIC FINANCE
- Securities Commission to introduce the a framework for Social
Responsible Investment (SRI) Sukuk, or Islamic bonds, to finance
"sustainable and responsible" investment initiatives.

AGRICULTURE
- Government to allocate six billion ringgit allocated for
agriculture programmes.
* Says to 243 million ringgit allocated for rubber, palm oil
and cocoa replanting as well as forest plantation programmes.
Main plantation companies in Malaysia include Sime Darby
, IOI Corp and KL Kepong.

LOGISTICS
- Government to allocate 3 billion ringgit in soft loans under
the Maritime Development Fund through Bank Pembangunan Malaysia.
* The fund is to provide financing to encourage the development
of the shipping industry, shipyard construction, oil and gas as
well as maritime-related support activities.

AVIATION
- To replace existing air traffic control and management system
in Subang, a new air traffic management centre costing 700
million ringgit will be built at Kuala Lumpur International
Airport (KLIA).
* Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Miri, Sibu and Mukah airports in
Sabah and Sarawak to be upgraded with 312 million ringgit
allocation.
- Malaysia Airports manages and operates all airports
across the country except for one in Johor.

PUBLIC INVESTMENTS
* Public investments to reach 106 billion ringgit. Projects to
be implemented include:
- A 316-kilometre West Coast Expressway. Locally listed Kumpulan
Europlus Bhd owns 80 percent of the project, while IJM
Corp owns the balance 20 percent.
- Double-tracking rail project along west coast Malaysia. The
project is carried out by as a joint venture between MMC Corp
and Gamuda.
- Various projects from state oil firm Petronas under
its 300 billion ringgit capex programme, including a
petrochemicals plant in southern Johor state.

INTERNET ACCESS
- To carry out second phase of high-speed broadband project
with the private sector involving 1.8 billion ringgit
investment. State-linked telco Telekom Malaysia Bhd
is involved in the project.
- To increase Internet coverage in rural areas, 1,000
telecommunication transmission towers will be built in the next
three years, with an investment of 1.5 billion ringgit.
- To increase Internet access in Sabah and Sarawak, new
underwater cables will be laid within three years at a cost of
850 million ringgit.

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

There is an unspoken rule: to launch a startup, you need to build a
product, and to do that you need someone that can write code.

Whether that means chasing down a technical co-founder, learning to
code, or even building that "Lean MVP" - the conventional wisdom is that
without tech abilities you're nothing more than a dude (or dudette)
with a Powerpoint.
A growing number of startups, however, are quietly disproving this assumption.

They're getting their first customers with minimal technology, and
often no code at all. Instead of building fancy technology from the
outset, they're hacking together inexpensive online tools such as online
forms, drag-and-drop site builders, advanced Wordpress plugins, and
eCommerce providers.

They're jumping right in to serve customers in any way possible - heading right for their first paying customers.

Most importantly, unlike the majority of their peers, by the time
they start building a product, they already have a humming business.

How are they doing it?

Focus on Serving Customers Instead of Building a Product

Successful founders all know one thing: it's more important to serve a customer than it is to build a product.

This is the mindset you must get into when you start out. Most
entrepreneurs are narrowly set on building a product that they lose
sight of the real goal - to solve a problem for a customer.

Or, as Ben Yoskovitz eloquently put it,

"Customers don’t care how you get things done – just that you get it done and solve their pain."

Replace Technology with People

Think about the hardest part of the business you want to build. The
part that would require the most complex development - the true
innovation that no one else does.

Can a real person perform these tasks manually?

For many startups, this was the secret to massive success:

David Quail is a super talented software engineer, with one exit
already under his belt. He wanted to solve his ultimate annoyance:
scheduling meetings over email.

David's original idea was to build an artificial intelligence tool
that could read an email chain and automatically schedule the event. But
this would take months if not years.

His shortcut to launching a business ASAP? He simply set up an email
address for his customers to "CC" that forwarded to him, and did the
work manually at first to prove that customers were willing to pay.

Over time he automated more of the service - but not before he already knew there was clear demand and was making revenues.

Another example - a marketplace:

Tastemaker is a marketplace
connecting interior designers with homeowners for small design gigs.
They started by contacting interior designers and building a physical
list of those interested in extra work.

They then asked their network who needed help with interior design - and made the connection, processing payment themselves.

The Tastemaker founders used pen and paper to solve their customer's
needs and prove the market. They then built their online platform in
parallel (which eventually became their core business).

You've probably heard many famous stories like ZenLike and
Tastemaker. They range all the way from companies like Groupon or Yipit
(raised $7.3M), to Aardvark (acquired by Google) and Diapers.com
(acquired by Amazon).

What did they have in common starting out? At the core of many
businesses, instead of fancy algorithms, you would have found the
founders themselves, like the "man behind the curtain" in the Wizard of
Oz, working hard, acting as the secret sauce.

Use These Off the Shelf Solutions

While your core tech might in fact be a service starting out, you can
wrap it with an online presence, digital interactions, and the
administration of a true technology business.

In short, you can act, look, and smell like a fully automated online
company that employs a posse of software developers and an in-house
graphic designer.

* Use copy-paste widgets from around the web like contact forms, Skype buttons, live chat, etc.

* Use simple-yet-sophisticated website creators to publish your
central website and glue together all the tools into one presence. Strikingly and Unbounce are great for beautifully designed landing pages.

I could go on listing these forever (well, I did here). As you can see, the web is full of tools that let you conjure entire features with the click of a mouse.

The key is to always search for what you want before reinventing the
wheel. Chances are someone has already thought of how to make your life
easier.

The Hidden Treasures of Wordpress

To most of us, the Wordpress brand connotes a free blog, or a simple way to create a content website for non-technical folks.

But the true magic of Wordpress is the ability to extend its
functionality to create many kinds of web platforms - while keeping your
hands (mostly) free of code.

Wordpress itself is free, and you can purchase inexpensive plugins
that automatically transform your website into a membership site,
ecommerce portal, social network, and even daily deals site.

Instead of spending thousands on a designer, you can buy a high-end
theme for around $40 and customize it to your brand. If you have a bit
more saved up, you can hire a local Wordpress expert for a few hours of
their time for small custom tweaks and a personal tutorial. And, if you
don't want hosting headaches, you can use WPEngine (hi, Jason!).

Wordpress is one of the most incredible tools on the web for
non-technical entrepreneurs. There's a bit of a learning curve,
depending on how you want to use it, but definitely a faster option than
finding a developer or learning to code.

It puts fate into your own hands.

Put It All Together

Go back to that core customer need, and think of how to satisfy it by
any means. Now how can you make that solution accessible? What would
the process be for finding you and reaching out? How can you charge and
provide support?

Chances are good that you can pull it all off yourself. If not,
consider starting a bit smaller than you originally imagined, if only to
start generating revenues today and fund your development.

Once you have your first few customers, you'll have a very good
picture of where your business is going, and what technology you
absolutely need to build - and very clear motivation.

Does working this way pay off?

Tech companies started this way have sold for between $50-$540
million, or have gone public. They are growing at double digit rates.
And they launched in a matter of weeks or months - not years.

If this approach makes you uncomfortable - that's great. It's a sign
that you're learning to think differently. However, entrepreneurs
presented with this approach often have similar gut feelings:

What Will Investors Think?

They will think you are clever, resourceful, flexible, persistent - and know how to focus on the right things.
To quote one of our investors, Len Brody, on his portfolio: "I call
them the workaround culture... [they] just work around anything - and
you have to."

If for any reason they are put off by your creativity and resourcefulness, then you're not talking to the right investors.

What About Scaling?

This is a very understandable fear. It's a scary situation to think,
"Great, we got our customers, and now we're going to disappoint them."

Don't let that thought paralyze you. Growth is rarely if ever a black
and white, rocket-ship-spike. It's a steady process that leaves you
plenty of time to transition between solutions.

In other words, there's a spectrum between do-it-yourself and
full-robot-revolution. You might hire a few people in the meantime (with
the revenue that their hire would naturally generate) while also
developing a scalable technology.

As most entrepreneurs will tell you the way you get your first 50 customers certainly won't be the way you get your first 5,000.

For those of you feeling held back by your lack of technical skills -
or deep in development muck - ask yourself, what can you do *today* to
get your first customer.

Give it a shot. In contrast to paying a developer, you don't have a
lot to lose. Do whatever you need to do to get your business going.

Remember: you're not here to build a product - you're here to solve a problem. And you certainly have the skills to do that.
***
Want more specifics, examples, and tools? Check out my newest Skillshare course, How to Launch Your Startup Without Any Code (use code ONSTRTPS for %15 off)

KUALA LUMPUR: There is no reason to believe that Malaysia has seen
the formation of an asset bubble that is about to burst, as the country
has addressed many of the issues and risks related to it, says Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

She said three series of macro prudential measures had been introduced
this year to avoid the very risk of the formation of such a bubble
asset.

She was responding to a question on whether Malaysia was
experiencing an asset bubble that would burst if China’s economy tumbled
and as global interest rates rose, as reported recently by the foreign
media.

“Conditions between now and in 1997/1998 are different. We
are now on a growth path,” she told a press conference in conjunction
with the South East Asian Central Banks (Seacen) 30th Anniversary
Conference on Greater Financial Integration and Financial Stability and
launch of the Seacen Financial Stability Journal.

Zeti said domestic demand was driving Malaysia’s economic growth and
the country was not at the epicentre of the recent global financial
crisis.

“Our financial intermediaries remain resilient and the supply of credit was never disrupted,” she added.

She said financial intermediation was continuing and financial markets continued to function.

“There is confidence in the financial system. This is the result of the
focus over the last decade on financial reforms that have strengthened
the foundation of our financial system.

“We believe that credit
growth has moderated to a sustainable pace that supports the growth of
the economy. In this regard, we continue to monitor conditions,” Zeti
added.

Meanwhile, in her opening address at the conference, Zeti
said the modernisation of the Asian financial system had been
accompanied by a significant strengthening of the regulatory and
supervisory frameworks.

She said it had also been accompanied by
improved financial safety nets, a more effective surveillance of
financial stability risks and stronger legal underpinnings.

“These reforms supported the transition towards more market-oriented
financial systems that are anchored in stronger institutions, risk
management capacity and governance,” she added.

“Significant strides also continue to be made in strengthening consumer
protection frameworks, promoting financial inclusion, and enhancing
market discipline,” she said.

She also said these developments
continued to support the region through the recent episodes of
turbulence in the global financial markets.

“The region has also
made important strides in enhancing monetary and financial cooperation
arrangements to address regional financial stability issues and global
policy spillovers.

“Much has been accomplished in the areas of
surveillance arrangements, financial safety nets and crisis prevention,
management and resolution,” she added.

On the Asian financial
integration model for the ten Asean economies, Zeti said it was focused
on strengthening pre-conditions through collective capacity building to
promote more open market access.

“It also focuses on
progressively reducing barriers to facilitate cross-border trade,
developing the market infrastructure and an enabling environment to
promote the efficient and effective intermediation of cross-border
financial flows.

“It also focuses on establishing appropriate safeguards for the stability of the financial system,” she added.

Meanwhile, Bank Negara and the Bank of Korea
jointly announced the establishment of a bilateral local currency swap
arrangement. It is designed to promote the use of local currencies for
bilateral trade and strengthen financial cooperation between Malaysia
and South Korea, Bank Negara said in a statement.

This arrangement allows for the exchange of local currencies between
the two central banks of up to five trillion Korean won or RM15bil.

The effective period of the arrangement is three years, and could be
extended by mutual agreement between the central banks. - Bernama

Monday, 21 October 2013

It happened again last
week – at the last minute the United States avoided debt default. But
the world is losing patience with this latest episode of dysfunctional
leadership.

THE world waited with bated breath as the
deadline neared. And breathed a sigh of relief when at the last minute,
the United States avoided crossing its “debt ceiling” and a default on
its debts.

The debt ceiling was raised, and the government
shutdown also ended last Thursday after weeks of a high-profile standoff
between US President Barrack Obama and the Republicans in Congress.

But this relief was mixed with incredulity and frustration.

First, the respite is only temporary; the can is just kicked down the road.

The deadlines for government shutdown and debt ceiling are shifted some weeks away to January and February next year.

Second, this fiasco has happened several times already.

Each time the Congress gave the President a reprieve of just a few more months, before the new deadline loomed again.

The Republicans are adamant to cut the government’s spending and its
budget deficit and won’t allow the government to function unless they
get what they want.

Previously, Obama compromised and gave in significantly.This time, he stood firm and refused to negotiate.

The Republicans went too far, choosing to defund and damage his
landmark medical insurance reform as a condition for lifting the debt
ceiling.

Obama decided “enough is enough” and relied on public
opinion to win his gamble. The Republican Party blinked, as the public
heaped the blame on them.

The party leaders in Congress had to
eat humble pie and agree to stop the shutdown and lift the debt ceiling
without defunding or changing the “Obamacare” health reform.

But
thirdly, while the President finally showed the Republicans who was
boss, the damage had already been done to the United States’ image as a
superpower and the champion of American-style democracy.

The US
system of governance has become dysfunctional, with one side of the
political divide willing and able to paralyse the government functions
led by the other side, using the weapon of withholding approval of the
government’s budget and capacity to borrow.

Just days before the
deadline, the world’s finance ministers meeting at the annual IMF-World
Bank meeting in Washington highlighted the extreme dangers of a US debt
default.

Around the world, leaders and analysts mourned the end
of the past certainties surrounding the United States and its dollar as
the world’s financial leader.

A widely-quoted article in
China’s Xinhua news agency was titled: “Washington’s political chaos
proves it’s time for a de-Americanised world.”

The commentator,
Liu Chang, said the latest crisis reveals that the United States is
unfit to govern itself, let alone lord it over the rest of us.

“It is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanised world.”

After castigating the United States for meddling in the political
affairs of countries in its efforts in building a world empire, the
writer attacks a self-serving Washington for shifting financial risks
overseas, while the debt ceiling crisis “has again left many nations’
tremendous dollar assets in jeopardy and the international community
highly agonised”.

“Such alarming days when the destinies of
others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated,
and a new world order should be put in place, according to which all
nations, big or small, poor or rich, can have their key interests
respected and protected on an equal footing.

“Part of that reform
is the introduction of a new international reserve currency that is to
be created to replace the dominant US dollar, so that the international
community could permanently stay away from the spillover of the
intensifying domestic political turmoil in the United States.”

As the Xinhua opinion piece indicated, many countries are concerned about the US dollar being the world’s dominant currency. It is by far the most important reserve currency.

Countries holding US dollar treasury bills have been worried about the
once unthinkable, that the US would be unable to honour its debt service
obligations, thus putting their hard-earned assets in jeopardy.

On the other hand, countries that took loans denominated in US dollars
could face punishing terms of repayment if the interest rate on the US
dollar shoots up upon fears of a US debt default.

Companies,
traders and governments that use the US dollar as the medium of exchange
would also suffer from chaos in the markets for money, commodities and
trade, if there is a massive loss of confidence in the US and its
dollar.

Thus, continuing uncertainty arising from feuds in
Washington will accelerate the erosion of confidence in the US as world
economic leader.

The Financial Times columinist Martin
Wolf commented that the US debt ceiling is the legislative equivalent of
a nuclear bomb, and that the law needs to be repealed since there
cannot be orderly government under so destructive a threat.

But another editorial comment in The Independent
states that while there is a straightforward case to ditch the debt
ceiling law, the same extremists who use it as a weapon of mass
destruction will be loath to part with it.

In the past few days,
some Democrat and Republican leaders in charge of budget policy in
Congress have started meeting, giving hope they plan to avoid a repeat
of the fiasco when the budget and debt ceiling deadlines re-appear in a
few months.

But given the polarisation and ideological divides in
Washington, chances are that the world will be treated to another round
of the battle and the chaos. If that happens, there will be more calls
for a new world order.

Contributed by Global Trends by Martin Khor
> The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.

Sunday, 20 October 2013

Ever since Microsoft’s Kinect came out, it has been wondering when the technology would get built into PCs. Yes, there is Kinect for Windows, but it’s a peripheral — about having advanced motion detection capabilities in the webcam, as a bridge to exciting future user interfaces.

Well, today, such technology is on its way, but not from Microsoft. No, it’s Intel that the PC manufacturers are talking to, and it’s not Kinect that’s the base: it’s Intel’s perceptual computing technology.

According to Paul Tapp, senior product manager in Intel’s perceptual computing division, manufacturers have “committed to doing it” in 2014 – “it” being the integration of an Intel-designed motion-detection system into their machines. And in the meanwhile, peripherals maker Creative put its $210 Senz3D, the first retail device to use the technology.

Creative’s Senz3D camera is up for pre-order. It’s the
first peripheral to use Intel’s perceptual computing tech, which will be
built into computers from next year. >>

Contributed by By David Meyer Gigaom.com

MIT’s ‘Kinect of the future’ can track you through walls

Researchers from MIT have
unveiled a new form of motion tracking that uses a three-point system to
follow a person’s position, even through a totally opaque wall. Though
the word “Kinect” has been thrown around quite liberally for the sake of
accessibility, this is strictly a positional tracker — that means that
it won’t be interpreting sign language or reading lips any time soon.
Rather than being a control mechanism, this device is purely for keeping
tabs on users as they move both within and between rooms. At present
the tracker is set up directionally, so it can only see through the
single wall at which it is pointed, but the obvious end goal is an
omnidirectional tracker that could follow a user through the whole
house, upstairs and down.

The system works using three radio
antennas spaced about a meter apart to bounce signals off a person’s
body. Even through the researchers’ office wall, it can follow people
with an accuracy of up to 10 centimeters (four inches), better than WiFi
localization can currently provide. Though the device is exploded and
sitting as component parts at present, one grad student working on the
project said they expect to be able to condense it down to a final unit
no larger than Microsoft’s Kinect sensor.

Beyond
the loss of Kinect-like image and silhouette tracking, the MIT system
can also only track a single person at a time. A second moving object
within the system’s field of view will cause confusion and make the
system useless — though that problem is, of course, to be addressed
soon. It also has trouble with stationary objects, but they already have
a first pass on an algorithm to get around this by recognizing the
motion of a person breathing.

Applications for the technology,
assuming its kinks and limitations are addressed, are numerous. There
are the obvious gaming applications, perhaps blurring the line between
real and virtual locations as players stalk through real hallways full
of video-game enemies. All Oculus Rift fantasies aside though, there are
plenty of more substantive reasons to be excited about the ability to
keep track of people without their need to carry a transmitter. Rather
than installing motion trackers in every corner of the home, a single
tracker near the center might be able to intelligently turn the lights
on and off as you move from room to room.

Architects and
advertising researchers would love to know how people move through a
particular space, where they spend their time, and what places they tend
to avoid. The health care industry could keep better track of people in
need of supervision, receiving an alert if, say, a person with dementia
begins to wander away.

Though it’s a sprawling array today, the researchers say that the device could end up smaller than a Kinect.>>

Of course, there are also the more troubling possible uses. WiFi
localization currently requires users to hold a tracking device, while
more versatile options like holographic localization are slow and low
fidelity. MIT is now bringing a high degree of accuracy and usability
together with the versatility that comes with being able to track people
who have never consented to be tracked. If the signal could be made
strong enough, it could render prison break-outs virtually impossible,
or let law enforcement quickly check the number and position of people
in a hostage situation.

Human and civil rights activists might
have something to say about such applications, however. That’s really
the downfall of a catch-all people-tracker for use outside of private
homes: I can’t imagine a world in which its use would remain legal for
long. People are leery enough about ad agencies tracking their online
activities — how might people react to the idea of a company monetizing
their walking path through the local mall? The Kinect has already got
certain people up in arms over just the possibility of always-on
functionality, and that would only have mattered when the user was
standing directly in front of their television.

The team has a patent
pending for the technology, but the concept seems like it would be easy
enough to adapt with slight changes. It’s still in its infancy, but
finding a person through a wall by picking up on their breathing is
about as strong a proof of concept as they could ever have hoped for.

Saturday, 19 October 2013

GEORGE TOWN: The Federal Government should leave real property gains tax (RPGT) alone in the 2014 Budget.

New Bob Group director Dr Lee Ville said that if the RPGT is
increased, then it will dampen the property market, which has already
started to cool.

Lee is also president of ERA Malaysia, which is the world’s leading real estate brand.

It is expected that the Federal Government will raise the RPGT rate
to 30% from 15% for properties sold within two years, and 15% from 10%
for properties sold within three to four years.

For properties sold in the fifth and sixth year, the RPGT is expected
to remain unchanged at the current 10% and zero RPGT respectively.

“The anticipated RPGT will not deter foreigners from buying, as they
are allowed to dispose their properties only after the third year,” he
said.

Mont’Kiara and Sri Hartamas apartments Kuala Lumpur

Lee said the anticipated RPGT would work in the initial stages, curbing speculation in the short term.

“If implemented, developers will respond by reducing their delivery of residential housing projects.

“This will eventually lead to a shortage, triggering demand and
causing property prices to rise up again in the long term,” he said.

Lee said the Federal Government should look into controlling price,
other than cement, of essential building materials, as the rising price
of raw materials was a reason for soaring property prices.

Meanwhile, Raine & Horne Malaysia director Michael Geh (pic) said the
RPGT would hurt current speculators who had already bought properties,
and not the future ones who had yet to buy properties.

“If the existing speculators are hurt, the banks will also be dragged down.

“The Federal Government should look at curbing speculation through
other means such as providing middle-income homes with an effective
delivery mechanism that ensures only the eligible income category
benefits,” Geh said.